Sunday, December 17, 2006

Sunday 12/17 A.M. Quickie:It's All About the Brawl at MSG

NBA action: It's Brawltastic! MSG last night. Knicks-Nuggets. End of the game. Flagrant foul. Scrum. (Sucker punch?) Brawl. 10 players ejected, including the NBA's leading scorer. A brawl that came WAY too close to the fans (a David Stern super no-no). And, in the middle of it all, the Knicks, who seem to find new ways to amp up the drama. Here's a link to Chris Sheridan's front-seat column, plus the all-important link to the video. (How quick to YouTube?)

Melo melee? There will almost certainly be tons of suspensions, and I seriously wonder if Stern, after reviewing the tape, will clock his league's leading scorer with a suspension that runs into the double-digits. When Melo apparently turned the corner on his "Stop Snitchin'" rep by giving millions to a local Baltimore youth center, he also apparently felt the need to reclaim his cred by "Start Punchin,'" a novel tactic.

Just as the memory of the "Malice at the Palace" has receded, we have this. Your reactions?

I think the most interesting thing is how much of a woman Melo looked like when he threw the punch and then backpeddled all the way to his own bench for protection...I mean if you're going to be dumb enough to throw the punch in the first place at least be a man and don't run away with your tail between your legs...My respect for Melo is hurting

Another interesting issue is the feud between Isiah and George Karl. Didn't they get into it last year about the way Isiah and the Knicks had treated Karl's friend Larry Brown? Was Karl deliberately trying to run-up the score and make the Knicks look bad (how hard is that)?

Yesterday was a sad day for professional sports. In addition to this embarrassment, T.O. spit in DeAngelo Hall's face during their game last night. (And he admitted to it!) In the past, I've thought the whole T.O. thing was overblown by the media... but it's hard to blame anyone but him in this. Sad, sad, sad.

Yesterday was a sad day for professional sports. In addition to this embarrassment, T.O. spit in DeAngelo Hall's face during their game last night. (And he admitted to it!) In the past, I've thought the whole T.O. thing was overblown by the media... but it's hard to blame anyone but him in this. Sad, sad, sad.

Sometimes I wonder if Isiah isn't just trying to out do himself with each stupid move. I hope that the Godfather orders some especially harsh punishment for Thomas is the reports are true. Threatening a player if he goes into the paint again? Are we talking about a crime syndicate or the Association here? Isiah needs to go away, very very very soon.

As bad as anthony looked with his bitchy hit-and-run, Isiah looked that much worse in the post-game interview. It sounded like something a player should say - 'We were frustrated, they shouldn't have had their good players in the game, they were showing us up at home, blame George Karl and Anthony and Smith...'

Come on, the coach should be the voice of reason, should stand above all that, should apologize to the fans, should at least give lip service to the need for discipline. But no, just a bunch of excuses, passing the blame on to the Nuggets (if not for Robinson jumping in on it, it never would have escalated - once the Nuggets see two Knicks shoving their boy around, of course they're going to run over to protect him; and once Robinson goaded smith into wrestling with him, it got way out of control).

I think the media will be roasting thomas even more than usual for this one. Melo and Robinson should get ten games (I guess I need to watch the tape again, I don't remember seeing Najera in the scrum at all. Why did he get tossed? I guess since the refs couldn't sort it out.)

I agree. Somehow Isaiah made himself look like the biggest jerk coming out of this. 29 out of 30 coaches would have been incensed at their Collins for the foul and Robinson for the body slam, and accepted full responsibility, but no there he is calling out the Nuggets for leaving their stars in. Anyone else see him trying to talk to Carmelo after the whole fracas? Wtf dude?

Stern was lucky that the Knick fans were nice enough not to throw any beer onto the court....then again down 20 with less than 2 minutes to go and it being a Knick game there probably weren't too many fans there anyway.

As for suspensions, Melo deserves to sit for a while along with Nate Robinson and Isiah. At least 10 games a piece since they were the 3 instigators.

In light of the T.O. and MSG antics, it's nice to see that racial demographic living up to their expectations. Please don't call me a racist when their actions degrade the accomplishments of many African-Americans. You think Obama Barack and J.C. Watts just shake their head at the TV when they watch the highlights on Sportscenter?

Noone dare says anything about any racial demographic and how they're "living up to expectations" or goes ridiculously crazy with over the top coverage when MLB teams go at it in those major brawls (which happens a couple times every year). This happens in baseball just as much, if not more than in the NBA... but somehow it's seen as just "part of the game."

The fight was bad, and we all know T.O. is an idiot. But don't insinuate that those events happened because they're black. So J. Sherer, get that shit out of here.

The NBA sucks. I'm 30 years old, but I still consider the early-mid 80s to be the "golden era" of basketball. Since then, it has gone downhill. MJ kept it alive in the 90s because of his jaw-dropping skills, but since he retired the second time, the NBA has been shit.

Semi-talented people get paid 10 million a year to be thugs. Period. End of story. I'm not sure why we watch anymore. I'm thinking that I should become a fan of an Italian league team or something.

So, obviously, I enjoyed this brawl. People throwing pussy punches, then retreating and looking for help. These "wannabe badasses" like to look good, and then run for cover when the shit hits the fan.

I hope there's a brawl every day for the next 3 months. Maybe the NBA will fold, and we'll get to focus more on college basketball, where there is enthusiasm, hard work, respect for coaches, and a sense of decency. The NBA lost those qualities a long time ago.

j sherer: It's not a racial demographic, and I think you know this because you obviously know a few token black people who would never act like a thug (congratulations). It is instead a socioeconomic demographic. People brought up poor and taught that they don't need to improve their minds to earn respect are what's wrong with inner cities and, yes, the NBA courts. These people can be white or black or anything in between. But when you break it down by race when what--90% of NBA players are black anyway?--that is what's wrong with middle America.

I think it's funny that Nene was the only one on the floor who didn't get kicked out of the game. You just know he was thinking "There's no freaking way I'm getting suspended after missing a whole season."

Funny how people are quick to call today's athletes thugs when the NBA in the 80's were much rougher.

If you're a fan of the "golden age", then you certainly remember Dr. J and Bird throwing punches and choking one another or McHale close-lining Rambis or the entire Detroit Bad Boys? Hell, even MJ got into in the playoffs when Greg Anthony (a Knick) hard fouled him.

People are overreacting, this wasn't the palace - no one was punching fans!!! Robinson, Smith, Carmelo, and the Knick who commited the foul should all get about 5 games.

Half-Man/All-Amazing- I totally agree. Please, this fight was nothing more than a couple punches and some shoving, and ESPN's front page calls it "revolting." C'mon, baseball brawls happen all of the time, and tend to be lauded by the media, where as everyone dumps all over the NBA for the most trivial incidents.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.